Wired News on July 18 & 19, 1995

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on July 18 & 19, 1995
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Burmese TV shows Suu Kyi for first time
(Updates with Suu Kyi shown on Burmese TV)
RANGOON, July 19 (Reuter) - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
was shown in public on Wednesday for the first time since she was released
from house arrest last week when she appeared on state-run television.
The official Myanmar TV showed Suu Kyi laying flowers at the Martyrs Day
ceremony, which commemorates the deaths of her father, independence hero
General Aung San, and eight others who were assassinated while planning
Burma's independence from Britain.
Although Suu Kyi has held several news conferences since she was released
from six years of detention on July 10, there has been a domestic blackout on
the new of her release, which has never been officially announced in Burma.
Suu Kyi was arrested in 1989 on charges of endangering the state after
making outspoken attacks on the military for their bloody suppression of
pro-democracy demonstrations the previous year.
Earlier on Wednesday some 100 foreign reporters, photographers and
cameramen drank tea and ate cakes in the garden of her Rangoon home where the
50-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner spent her detention.
After asking that all cameras be turned off and no pictures be taken, Suu
Kyi mingled, signing autographs and asking reporters about their visits to
Rangoon.
One close adviser to Suu Kyi said she held the tea because ``she thought
most of you would be going home soon.''
Suu Kyi's release sparked a flood of visa applications from reporters to
enter the country but more than a dozen missed out, prompting Thailand's
Foreign Correspondents' Club to urge Burmese Minister of Information
Major-General Aye Kyaw to drop an apparent blacklist.
Club president Panadda Lertlum-ampai said in a letter that recent
applications had either gone unanswered or had been rejected.
Burma's ruling military has had an uneasy relationship with the foreign
media and no reporters were allowed in to the country for several years after
the military suppressed the 1988 democracy uprising.
Reut12:01 07-19-95
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Burmese refuses to allow TV footage to leave the country
RANGOON, July 19 (Reuter) - A Burmese offficial said foreign television
footage would not be sent out by satellite on Wednesday as a domestic news
blackout on the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi continued.
An official in charge of satellite booking at the state-run Myanmar TV
station said he was told by his superior not to accept any bookings for
satellite feeds on Wednesday from 6:30 am (0000 GMT) until 12:30 am (1800
GMT).
He would not give a reason, but an official said ``they do not want the
pictures going out.''
Suu Kyi, freed from six years of house arrest on July 10, made her first
major public appearance on Wednesday at Martyrs' Day ceremonies to
commemorate the assassination of her father, independence hero General Aung
San, and eight others.
There has been no official announcement of her release.
Earlier this week, several foreign television journalists said the
censors refused to let them send their reports.
Reut08:47 07-19-95
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Burmese dissident's release said encouraging Germans
SINGAPORE, July 18 (Reuter) - The head of the German Federation of
Small Business (ZDH) said on Tuesday the release of dissident Aung San Suu
Kyi would encourage German firms to invest in Burma's long-isolated economy.
``We're relieved about the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi from her house
arrest,'' secretary-general Hanns-Eberhard Schleyer said in an interview.
``We feel that it is the beginning of a new development in Myanmar
(Burma) and as such, we are very much interested in participating in this
development.''
Burma's ruling military State Law and Order Restoration Council released
Suu Kyi from six years of house arrest last week, prompting hopes the
political landscape could be changing for the better.
Most Western countries and international agencies cut off aid to Burma
after the military refused to accept the results of elections and supressed
1988 pro-democracy uprisings.
Although Suu Kyi's first public statements included cautions to business
to wait for real political change before jumping in, Asian investment
analysts say the vast potential of the resource-rich country could prove
difficult to resist.
Schleyer told a seminar ZDH planned to team up with Singapore business
associations in order to promote trade with Burma as well as other Asian
countries.
ZDH is the umbrella body for 57 German small business chambers and
sectoral associations.
Singapore is Burma's fourth-largest investor, with US$315 million
invested in 25 projects, mainly in hotel and tourism, light manufacturing,
finance and fisheries.
``We are one of the biggest investors in Burma. Our businessmen are quite
happy to invest in Burma as they find the country has less red tape than in
some other countries,'' said Robert Chua, president of the Singapore Chamber.
REUTER
Reut 06:26 07-18-95
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Britain cautiously optimistic on Burma's future
LONDON, July 19 (Reuter) - Britain is cautiously optimistic about the
future for Burma following the military government's release from house
arrest of democracy leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi, a British minister said on
Wednesday.
But junior Foreign Office minister Jeremy Hanley said this did not mean
the government would proceed quickly with new aid and trade initiatives to
support the country's creaking economy.
``I think I can characterise our present attitude as cautiously
optimistic. We are looking at our policy options, but will not rush ahead,''
Hanley told the House of Commons during a short debate.
Hanley said Britain would be letting Rangoon know that progress with
economic assistance will be conditional on both economic and political
reforms. ``These need to be radical.''
On the economic side, Burma needed to introduce a sound tax system and a
new currency policy and to address the problem of its foreign debt.
On the political side, it had to remove ``the many abuses and
restrictions which remain,'' Hanley said. He noted many human rights
activists were still under arrest.
``Aid is a valuable tool in exercising international influence in Burma
and we must be careful that it is used to support reform rather than to
undermine it,'' Hanley said.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the father of Burmese independence, was released
from six years of house arrest on July 10.
Reut10:31 07-19-95
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The Denver Post Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
FIRST DYNASTY TO EXPLORE IN MYANMAR: First Dynasty Mines Ltd. of Denver has
signed agreements to explore more than 1,500 square miles of Myanmar,
formerly Burma, for gold and copper. The agreements call for five years of
prospecting, exploration and completion of feasibility studies in three
areas of that Asian country, with a minimum expenditure of $250,000 for each
of the three areas. If any of the studies lead to development or production,
First Dynasty and the Myanmar Ministry of Mines would enter a joint venture
to proceed.
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